1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a batting unit designed for use with a Sports Technique And Reaction Training (START) system, which is a highly sophisticated training system with programming capabilities designed particularly for improving, progressing, and testing the development pattern of skilled motor functions (engrams) in sports, particularly with respect to baseball hitting skills, rehabilitation, and health and fitness. In the field of rehabilitation in particular, the subject invention should prove valuable and have particular utility in providing measured objective evidence of recovery of a batter from an injury. This is particularly useful in professional sports in gauging the ability of an injured player to perform under competitive situations, and also has utility in legal situations involving compensation, for example, in cases involving an injured employee or worker.
In the fields of sports, rehabilitation, health and fitness, a person frequently performs particular motor movements to achieve a specific purpose, such as for example the motor movements performed during execution of a backhand stroke in tennis. It is primarily in the sensory and sensory association areas that the athlete experiences the effects of such motor movements and records "memories" of the different patterns of motor movements, which are called sensory engrams of the motor movements. When the athlete wishes to perform a specific act, he presumably calls forth one of these engrams, and then sets the motor system of the brain into action to reproduce the sensory pattern that is engrained in the engram.
Even a highly skilled motor activity can be performed the very first time if it is performed extremely slowly, slowly enough for sensory feedback to guide the movements through each step. However, to be really useful, many skilled motor activities must be performed rapidly. This is capable of being achieved by successive performance of the skilled activity at game speed using the START system of the present invention until finally an engram of the skilled activity is engrained in the motor system as well as in the sensory system. This motor engram causes a precise set of muscles to perform a specific sequence of movements required for the skilled activity.
Most types of Inter partes competitive athletic performance involve predetermined patterns of sequenced muscle performance, usually in response to an act of an opponent, and the proficiency level of such performance is usually dependent, at least in large part, upon the reaction time required to initiate a predetermined pattern of sequenced muscle performance in response to an opponent's act and the rapidity with which such predetermined pattern is carried out. A corollary of the foregoing is the physical conditioning of the various muscles and other interrelated body components involved in each such predetermined pattern of muscle performance to minimize, if not substantially avoid, injury in the performance thereof.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The following U.S. patents are considered somewhat pertinent to the present invention as disclosing concepts related in some respects to the subject START system batting unit. However, none of the cited prior art discloses a system having the versatile attributes of the SPORTS system batting unit as disclosed herein.
Goldfarb et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,354 discloses a marshall arts amusement device having a picture, such as a display of a combatant, which is adapted to be struck by a participant, a series of lights mounted behind the picture, preferably each located at a different key attack or defensive position on the body of the combatant. The display detects when the picture is struck in the vicinity of a light, and is responsive to the detection for illuminating one of the lights and for controlling which light in the series is next illuminated when the picture is hit. In order to demonstrate high performance or win against an opponent, the participant must rapidly extinguish each light in the series by touching or hitting the picture at the illuminated light. The lights are illuminated in a pseudo-random order which the participant cannot anticipate, and therefore his relaxation, coordination, balance and speed are tested much the same as they would be in combat in determining the quality of his performance.
Hurley U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,875 discloses a reaction training device which includes a pair of spaced apart, electrically connected stands, each being provided with electrical switch boxes. Each of the switch boxes is provided with an external plunger, with the plunger being connected to electrical circuitry and acting as a switch. A timer is connected to the electrical circuitry, such that that the time required for a person to activate the timer by touching the plunger on one switch box and stop the timer by touching the plunger on the other switch box is recorded.
Groff U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,655 discloses a radio controlled teaching system in which a portable, self-powered, radio-controlled teaching device is provided for each student of a classroom, such that the teacher maintains a high level of student alertness by remaining in radio contact with each and every student during selected periods of the classroom day. A teaching device electronically transmits teacher-selected data to each student which, in turn, requires individual student responses to the data without the necessity of wired connections between the teacher and students. The teaching device is used to instantly and extemporaneously test the students in the class on a selected subject area.
Bigelow et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,557 discloses a reaction time and applied force feedback training system for sports which includes at least one sports training device, and a stimulus indicator located near and associated with the sports training device. The stimulus indicator generates a plurality of ready signals at random time intervals, and a sensor in the sports training device is receptive of a force applied to the sports training device for generating an electrical signal having a magnitude proportional to the magnitude of the applied force. A control unit controls the emanation of the ready signals, and determines and displays the reaction time from emanation of the ready signal to sensing the applied force, along with the magnitude of the applied force.
In summary, none of the aforementioned prior art provides an integrated START system having the general applicability and versatility of the subject invention with its many significant attributes as described in greater detail hereinbelow.